True, I may be misinterpreting it. However, I don't understand why Ignacio couldn't even wait for him to finish racking and then tried to move the balls himself.
What is up with Ignacio?
- Thread starter westcoast
- Start date
True, I may be misinterpreting it. However, I don't understand why Ignacio couldn't even wait for him to finish racking and then tried to move the balls himself.
They said on the stream that last year it was loser racks, but that rack your own was allowed if both players agreed to it but that it had caused a lot of problems last year so they went with the loser racks only this year.
Turning Stone is not rack your own. Zuglan in the past, however, has allowed rack your own when both players in a match want it that way. I'm not sure if that is officially allowed this year, but it was said on stream that one of the matches off stream was being played that way.
The Morris/Ignacio match was winner breaks / loser racks.
Edit -- Re-reading your post, I think you meant "Why isn't this tournament rack your own?" I'd guess because Zuglan is a traditionalist.
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It's very simple, Rodney was clearly not giving tight racks! If he was Rodney would call a ref and say " tell me what's not tight in that rack". IMO Rodney was trying to gaff him. Yes, even pros will resort to this.
Ignacio should wait a foot or two back until Rodney pulls the rack off before commenting on the rack and he shouldn't finger the 1 ball!
I watched Shaw and Thorsten play with no racking problems on that table.
Ignacio should wait a foot or two back until Rodney pulls the rack off before commenting on the rack and he shouldn't finger the 1 ball!
I watched Shaw and Thorsten play with no racking problems on that table.
I can see both sides of this, and give both players the benefit of the doubt. What I don't care for is the touching of the 1 ball. It seems almost insulting in a way.
I didn't read this thread so maybe it had been said
But the rack in 9 ball with good players is 90 % of the game .
That's why I never gamble at 9 ball
I disagree with you about Rodney. I think he absolutely handled it like a pro. There wasn't much audio but it didn't look like Rodney said much to Ignacio about touching the 1 ball each time. He just got back up, reracked and sat back down. If he touched the 1 ball again, he repeated. He was like a machine. He didn't let it throw him off but he wasn't going to leave a cheated rack either.
To get mad at Ignacio, tell him to stand back, call in a ref, etc. would have been to take him out of his game. I like that he just seemed to ignore it and when in doubt, rerack and sit back down. If he had to rerack 10 times for that game then so be it.
I wish I had the patience to do that on every rack like Rodney did and it reminds me that the mental game in pool is important.
I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with? Rodney did handle the racking issue like a pro. He was the one not giving a tight rack and had to re rack his own gaff rack.
I didn't say Rodney should get mad at Ignacio, Ignacio should by his own means stand back a little and not touch the balls. Rodney should have warned him if you touch the 1 ball it's a auto re rack.
I would call a ref over if I had a given a opponent a tight rack and he still complained. This was not the case.
Rodney is not an amateur in racking 9 ball, I think he has a little experience! If he had to give Ignacio 7 racks, it shouldn't take him approx. 30-50 attempts for him to get a decent rack. And those attempts were what Rodney tried to pass off as a good rack.
I just meant that I disagreed that he should have called the ref over. I think there's a chance that the process of doing that, explaining the situation, having Ignacio become defensive about why he was touching the 1 ball and waiting for the whole mess to die down might have been enough to throw Rodney off his game.
Maybe its my inexperience but I wonder if those kinds of interruptions might take a player out of a rhythm. It's kind of like the bathroom break that some pros use. I wonder if they really have to use the bathroom or if they are feeling like their opponent is in a rhythm and they just want to throw things off a little.
Maybe I'm overthinking that part of the game though. Certainly no offense was intended.
Completely agree with bathroom breaks and other added elements that can throw a player out of rhythm or change their mindset.
No racking problems. Rodney barely checked Mike's racks, just plowed right through them and ran out. Before Mike knew it he was down 6-0, and when the racks started to get funny it was too late, Rodney was in great form. Rodney won 9-3. Very quick match, around fifty minutes in all.
here's the video of the China Open finals last year against Chang Yu-Lung. it's in alternating break format. notice that Jeff would touch the 1 ball after the balls are racked by the referee. seems no one is complaining. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygodkiP5OT8
here's a video of him teaching a kid tips on how to break. it's in Filipino though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zv8FLaITEo